Garage-door operator



Sept. 28 1926.

G.,T. VAN HORN GARAGE DOOR OPERATOR ...N/nunA/.An/hhh/L//llr/ Il. .ffii/45111 T N E V W 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 2s 1926. l 1,601,419

G. T. VAN HORN GARAGE DooR OPERATOR I Filed April v. 1925 s sheets-sheet 2 i M9 f4 ff /f/ ma Y f /fe /fg f 7 '9J/aa /4 //3 ,A INVENTOR wfm BY l l Anonev Sept. 28 1926. 1,601,419

,G; T. wm` HORN y GARAGE "",DooRI OPERATOR Fled April 7. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Y v742 f 72 INVENTOR f WM BY Patented Sept. 28, 1926.

l UNITED STATES GEORGE T. VAN HORN, OF N''TLEY, NEW JERSEY.

GARAGE-DOOR OPERATOR.

Application led April 7, 1925.

My invention relates more particularly to a power operated mechanism for opening and closing the garage doors without getting out of the car, both for entering and when leaving the garage, and is an improvement over the devices of my Patents, Nos. 1,388,533 of August 23, 1921, and 1,436,122 of November 21, 1922.

One object of my improved mechanism is to provide a weight operated drum for operating the mechanism `for opening and closing the doors, whereby by winding up the weights power is provided for a plurality of opening and closing operations of the doors.

A further object is to provide a crank arm member rotating under the driving action of the weight driven drum for opening and closing the doors, the crank arms being under the control of an escapement dog for intermittently releasing the crank arm member, and for engaging said member to stop rotation thereof.

A further object is to provide a plurality of manually operable cable connections to the escapement dog for releasing the door operating crank arms, one of which is preferably carried underground to a post located in front of the garage, the post being provided with a hinged member operatively connected with the cable` adapted to be operated by anyone in the car to open the garage doors without the -necessity of getting` out of the car.

further object is to provide one of the cables operating the escapement dog with an extension, which may be held in the hand of the operator when taking the car out of the garage to operate the escapement dog and permit rot-ation of the crank arm member, to close the doors. This lastl mentioned operating cable for the escapement dog is preferably provided with a weight at the rear end thereof for snapping or drawing it back into the garage, after it has been operated r b va person in the car for closing the doors,

when the car has been moved out far enough to clear the latter.

A further objectis to provide resilient cushion devices on the crank arm member for. cooperation with the escapement dog as a shock absorber to reduce jar and vibration when rotation of the crank arm is stopped by engagement with the dog.

My improvement, as here shown, is more particularly adapted for operating Va pair of doors closing thegarage and, since one of Serial N'o. 21,307.

the doors is usually provided with a weather strip overlapping they joint between the closed doors, it is required that the door without the weather strip should be closed ahead of the other one to prevent interference of the weather strip. Therefore, a further object of my improvement is to provide an extensible connecting link for one of the doors to facilitate closing it ahead of the door'carrying they weather strip.

I have shown in the accompanying drawings, one form of my vimproved garage door operating mechanism, more particularly adapted for a single garage with double doors. Fig. lvshows a top plan View of my door operating mechanism, with the top of the garage removed; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of certain details, the section being taken onl the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the connecting rods,vshowing the extensible feature; Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view in elevation of the garage, looking toward the doors, the section being taken on the line 4f-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section at the joint between the doors on the line 5.-'5 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 isa vertical sectional vview of the drum and bearing plates associated with the crank member; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the lower bearing of the drum, `taken onthe section line 7--7 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a broken view in section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6, showing the ratchet drive for the crank arms; Fig. 9 is a frag mentary plan view showing the doors in open position; Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional view through the post located in front of the garage, for operating the mechanism from the car; Fig. 11 is a transverse vertical section of the post on the line 11-11 of Fig. 10, and Fig. 12-is a detail view of the weight suspension for power operation of the drum.

Referring to the drawings, the garage is represented at 1, which, in the present instance is provided with double doors 2 and 3 hinged at 4 to open horizontally outward.

lThe door 3 is preferably provided with a weather strip 5 to cover the crack between the doors, when in closed position, as shown in Fig. 1, of the drawings. The respective doors 2 and 3 are connected by means of links orconnectingv rods 6 and 7, with a pivot pin 3 mounted near the outer end Yof a crank arm 9, the opposite ends of the links being pivotally connected to brackets 10, secured tothe respective doors at predetermined points near their top edges, substantially as shown in Fig. l ot the drawings.

The length of the crank arm 9 and the position of attachment or" the brackets to the doors is such that upon a half rotation of the crank arm 9, the doors will be fully opened, substantially as shown in Fig. 9 ot the drawings. Gbviously, when the crank arm 9 is rotated back to the position shown in Fig. 1, the doors will again be closed.

In view of the fact that the door 3 carries the weather strip 5 the other door 2 must be closed slightly ahead of the door 3. rlhis isaccomplished by shortening' the connecting rod 6 to the door 2 and inserting therein an extensible joint 11, provided with a telescoping tubular extension 12 completing the iull length of the connecting rod. The telescoping member 12 and the joint 11 are connected together by a pin 13 and slot 14 which permits extension of the rod 6-12 to the full length required between the crank pin 8 and the door 2, when crank arm 9 is on dead center and the door is closed, as indicated in Fig. 1. To shorten the rod 6-12 during the closing operation, a spring 15 is connected between the pin 13, which is secured in the joint member 11, and a pin 16 secured in the telescoping member 12, substantially as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The rod end 17 secured to the tubular telescoping member 12 is pivotally mounted in the bracket 10, mounted on the door 2 as shown in Figs. 1 and 9 of the drawings. This telescoping oint in the rod 6 is thus adapted to shorten the rod 6 during the opening` and closing operation ot the rotating crank arm 9, so as to open door 3 ahead ot the door 2, and close door 2 in advance of door 3. However, when the crank arm 9 is moved back to closing position, as indicated in Fig. 1, the spring 15 will be placed under tension by the elongation of the rod 6 12 and the tension of the spring 15, under these circumstances, is adapted to facilitate the movement of the crank arm 9, in starting its opening movement from dead center, and has the further advantage that the impact or" the joint 11 against the telescoping member 12 under the snap or' the spring will assist in starting the door 2 it there should be any tendency for the latter to stick.

rllhe crank arm 9 is preferably rotated a halt1 rotation for opening the doors and a half rotation lor closing them, the rotation thereorp being always in the same direction. The crank arm 9 is preferably formed as part of the double crank arm member with an oppositely extendino` crank arm 18, the twocrank arms forming a horizontally eX- tending bar which is secured to the lower end of a shaft 19, by means of a pin 20, as more particularly shown in Fig. 6. The upper end of the shatt 19, which is adapted to rotate on a vertical axis is provided with a bearing plate or disc 21, held in place by a Cotter pin 22. Bearing bracket plates 23 and 24- are preferably secured together and supported by the ceiling beams 25, to which they are secured by suitable bolts 26, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6 ot the drawings. The upper bearing plate 23 is preferably provided with an annular boss 27 having a grooved race, vhieh supports thrust bearing` balls 28, cooperating with an annular race groove on the underside of the bearing disc 21 to thereby provider a ball thrust j j' tor supporting the rotatable crank member 9 18.

The shat't 19 and cranks 9 and 18 may be rotated by any suitable power means, but preferably l provide a drum 29, rotatably7 mounted about the shaft 19, the latter having bearings in the hub ends 30 and 31 0il the drum, substantially as shown in Fig. (i. "the hub ends 30 and 31 of the drum 29 i, mounted respectively on the bearing niates 23 and 2st between the hubs and the inside ifa-ces et cups in the annular bearing ings 27 and 311, the annular bearing 27 having previously been referred to as carrying the balls 28 tor the thrust bearing supporting he crank arms 9 and 18.

in order to drive the crank arms 9 and 18 by a rotation oi" the drum 29, the lower hub ot the latter is preferably provided with diametrically opposite ratchet pin sockets 35, in which ratchet pins 36 operate, the pins being thrust outward by springs 37, as indicated in Fig. 6 of the drawings. The ratchet pins 36 cooperate with crown ratchet teeth grooves 38 formed in the upper face of the hub 39, secured to or to ned as part of the crank arm 9-18, as shown in Fig. 8. The ratchet teeth or peckets 38, in the present instance, slope upward counter-clockwise, so that driving engagement is effected between the ratchet pins and the crank arms to rotate the latter clockwise, as viewed in F ig. 1, under the power drive of the drum 29.

rllhe drum 29, in the present instance, is shown as adapted to be rotated clockwise by suitable cables 4.9 and 41, wound about the lower part of the drum and extending over suitable pulleys to weights adapted to supply the necessary power. ln order to increase the effectiveness of the weights, the cables d() and 41 preferably extend over pulleys 1122, secured to the underside of ceil- Ang blocks e3, thev cables then passingV tl ugh pulleys sul from which the respective weights 45 are suspended. The ends of the cables are then anchored at 16 to the ceiling blocks e3, substantially as indicated in Figs. 1 and 12 of the drawings. By this means, it will be understood that power may be applied to rotate the drum 29 by winding up llO the weights and the arrangement vis such that the crank arms 9-18 may be rotated a comparatively large number of times, for opening and closing the doors, before it becomes necessary to wind up .the weights again.

In order to conveniently -wind up the cords or cables 40-41 on the drum 29, and thereby wind up the weights, the surface of the drum is preferably divided into two drum sections by a central flange 47, and a cable 48 (see Figs. 1 and 6) is wound about the upper section 49 of the drum in the opposite direction from the winding of the cords 40 and 41, so that by pulling on the cable 48 and unwinding it from the drum 29-49, the cables 40- -41 will be wound on to the drum. F or convenience in winding up the weights by pulling on the cable 48, the latter preferably passes horizontally outward to the wall of the garageV and after passing over a pulley 56, secured to the wall thereof, passes downward and may be pulled directly. Preferably, however, the end ofthe cable 48 is connected with a crab7 or winch drum 51 and may be readily wound thereon by the handle 52, the arrangement being substantially as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. In winding up the weight by rotating the drum 29, the ratchet pins 36 will ride overthe ratchet teeth grooves 38,A

which will prevent reverse rotationthereof, no ratchet mechanism being required in connection with the crab 51.

ln order to hold the crank arm member 9-18 against rotation by the drum 29, there Vis provided an'escapement dog 53 (see Figs.

1 and 6) pivotally mounted in a bracket 54 secured to one of the ceiling` beams 25 by suitable bolts 55, as shown in Fig. 6. A; spring 56 connected with a dog rock arm 57 is adapted to hold the dog 53 in position to engage one or the other of the crank arms 9 and 18, and prevent rotation thereof. Vhen the escapement dog 53 is rocked upward on its pivot 58, it will be moved out of engagement with the crank arm and the latter will be permitted to rotate under the drive of the weights acting on the drum 29. p As soon as the escapement dog is operatedto release one of the crank arms 9-18, and thereafter restored to normal position by the spring 58, it will engage the other. crank arm and stop rotation of the crank arm member. In order to cushion the blow in vstopping the rotating crank arms by the escapement dog 53, a suitable cushion or shock absorbing device is provided. In the present instance each of the crank arms 9 and 18 is provided with a hollowedcut portion 59 on its engaging edge, which is covered by'a flat leaf spring 60, substantially as indicated in Fig. 7 Vof the drawings, which4 it will be seen will serve as a shock absorberor cushioning device.-

' ing beams 25.

It will be seen that the mechanism thus far described. is adapted to operate the doors of the garage for opening and closing the same by moving the escapement dog 53V out of engagement with the respective crank rms 9 and 18. As shown in Figs. 1 and 6, it`will be seen that when the doors are closed, the `crank arm 9, to which the links 6 and 7 are pivotally connected, is in engagement with the escapement dog 53. Releasingthe escapement dog will, therefore, per.- mit the drum 29 to rotate the crank arm 9, around to the position shown in Fig. 9 to open the doors, and the crank arm member will be stopped in this position by the engagement of thecrank 18 with the escapement dog 53. Again upon releasingthe escapement dog 53, the crank arm member will rotate another half revolution and bring the crank arm 9 back into engagement with the escapement dog, thereby closing the doors, as represented in Fig. 1.4 In order to facilitate operation of the escapement dog 53 from various convenient points, the rock arm 57, connected therewith, is preferably connected by a cable or link 61 (see Fig. 1) with an intermediate rock lever 62 pivoted in a bracket 63, secured to one of the ceil- The object of the rock lever 62 will be more particularly pointed out later.

To provide means for operating the escapement dog 53 from a post located in front of the garage, the pull rod or cable 6l may be extended, but preferably the rock lever 62 is connected by a suitable cable or cordY connection 64 to a bell crank lever 65, pivotally mounted on a'bracket 66 secured to the top side-rail ofthe garage, as shown 1n Figs.

'1 and 2. The other arm of the bellcrank 65 is connected by means of a cable or 'cord 67 (F ig. 2) with a bell crank 68, pivotally mounted in a bearing bracket 69 embedded inthe floor ofthe garage near the corner thereof, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 9 of the drawings. rlhe bearing bracket l69 is preferably secured to the end of a pipe 70 extending under the front wall of the garage and under the driveway to a similar bearing bracket 71 (see Figs. 1() and11), which of wall planks, secured to strips of metal' 7 6 and 77, formed as rectangles or squares, conforming to the cross sectional shape of the hollow post. The rlower metal strip 77 is preferably made of angle iron and secured tothe base member in any suitable manner. The side walls or planks of post 74 I lmay be secured to the'. metal strips 7 6-77 in any suitable manner, such as by clips 78.

Une Wall 79 o1 the hollov7 "oost tacino' the i L a r`center of f `vevvay is preferably provided ninged door 80 which is adapted to siving vertically inward and downward on hinges 81 as shown in Fig. 11.

The door 80 is connected by means of a 82 with one arm of a bell crank lever o3 oivotally supported in va bracket 81 mounted on the opposite Wall of the post, the other in ot the bell crank 83 being connected by a cable or link 85, with the outwardly projecting arm ot the bell crank T2, which, as previously pointed out, connected by suitable lii ks or cables to the rock arm 57 ot the cscapement dog arrangement beine such that by push door 80 inward. the escapement dog be litted to release tie cr 9, ror

VVopening the doors.

Qbviously, it 1s desirable to prevent unie p ated lock 80 bolt 87 of which is adapted to coop-e with a keeper 88, secured to an upper cross strip the post which s the door j i substantially as shown in 14 s ap- 11. 1t i parent that it may be desirable, at times, to get at the connections Within the post '(11, and, tor this purpose, the top thereot is preferably formed as a lid being hinged at 90, and latch hooks 91 are provided tor holding the lid or top of the post secured in closed position. The latch hooks 91 are preferably so placed that by unlocki the door 80 and pushing it inward, the Vhooks may be reached to inila'fch or ,latch "hem when necessary.

it is desirable to provide tor actuating the escapement dog 53. Yfrom Within the garage and this purpose, another cable or cord 92 is preterably connected to the rock lever 02, and anchored at 93 to the front Wall o' the garage, as shown in 1. rEhe cable 92 being near the c-iling, a cable or cord attached at near the middle ot the cable 92, passes over a pulley 06 and down to ward the floor, so as to hang inconvenient position to be cached and pulled by anyone entering the small side door 9T o1 the garage, so as to actuate the escapement substantiilly as shown in il o1 the drawings.

When the car is driven out orp the garage, it desirable to close the doors and lool: up the place, and to avoid the necessity ot getting out ot the car for this purpose, a long cable or cord 99 is passed thro -p eye 100 in the cable or cord connection 92 and drops dov-7n in position tor the handle 101 Fig. 4e) to be grasped by a person in the car as the car moves out of the The rear end ot the cord or cable 99 preterably extendsv over ay pulley 102, secured to one of the ceiling beams 25, the end 'of the cord being secured to a Weight 103, for drawing the cord or cable 99 back into the garage after it has been carried out through the door as the car moves out on the driven Way. A button 1011 secured on the cord 99 is provided tor engagement With the eye 100 when the cord is drawn out, thereby exerting a pull on the cord or cable 92 to operate the escapement dog 53 and permitV rotation or the crank arms to close the doors. rEhe connecting rods 6 and secured to the respective doors 2 and 3otI the garage, in conjunction with the crank arm 9, When the latter is at dead center, are adapted to lock the doors that they cannot be opened 'tromthe outside, but it is desirable to provide a supplemental bolt 105 slidably supported on the lower inside of one of the doors (E) by the usual bracket 106, as shown in Figs. f1 5. This bolt 105 cooperates with a keeper socket 107 in the floor of f e ior securing the door in closed pon. order to draw the bolt 105 When the doors are to be opened, the rock lever 02, previously referred to as being operated by cords or cables SLL and 92, to actuate the escapement dog 53, is connected by means ot link or cable 108 With a bell crank 109, pivot-ed in a bracket 110, secured to the plate beam 111, above the doors. The other ot the bell crank 109 is connected by a link 112 with a hook 113, slidably mounted in a bracket- 1111, the loiver end ot the hook being adapted to engage an overhanging lug on the end ot a slide bolt 116, connected with the bolt tially as shown in Figs. l and 5 o1 the drawings. rilhe lug and bolt 116 are held in proper cooperative relation With the hook 113 by bracket. support 118, secured to the upper edge of the door 3 in line with the bolt 105 at the bottom thereof. By this arrangement, it Will be seen that operating the cables 92-01 to operate the escapement dog 53 to open the doors,\vill also, through Ythe rock lever 02, operate the link or cable 108, to l'tt the latch bolt 105 and unbolt the lower l of the doors.-

ift e eved that the operation of my improved vlage door operating mechanism i ll be tully understood from the foregoing, from which it ivill be seen that the operator on entering the g; can pull the cord 94 and the doors will be opened. Then upon getting into the carand driving it out of ,Y ge, the handle 101 ot the cord 99 will be grasped and carried along as the car moves out onto the driveway, thereby lifting the WeiL l 103 d finally bringing the button 101- iiito engagement with the eye 100, which should occur when the car has cleared the the floors sutticiently for them to close. TheV 'Ill 105by a link 117, substan.l

capenient dog 53, which is now in engagement with the crank arm 18, to release the crank arm member for closing the doors. As soon as the escapement dog has been released, the end of the corel 99, held by the person in the car, should be released and the weight lOwill jerk or draw the cord back into the garage before thefdoors have completely closed. lVhen the car comes to the garage, the operator comes up on the driveway and without getting out of the car, inserts a key in the lock 86, and pushes the door 80 inward, thereby releasing the escapement dog 53 and permitting the weight driven drum to operate the crank arm 9 to open the doors. After arriving within the garage, a pull on the cord 94 will again operate the escape-ment dog 53, and the crank arm member will rotate back towthe position shown in Fig. l and close the doors.

It will be understood that while I have shown the rotating' crank arms 9 and 18 as operating twor doors, the same mechanism, obviously, can be utilized for opening a single door. Furthermore, my door operating mechanism has been shown and described in connection with a single garage,but it will be understood that a double garage may be similarly equipped in duplicate and operated from a single post in front of the garage, if so desired.

I wish it to `be understood that while I have shown the preferred form of my improvement, I do not wish to be limited to the specific details of construction shown for obviously, various modificationsl therein may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim 1. In a garage door operating mechanism the combination with a horizontally swinging door, of bearing plates secured to the garage ceiling beams, a shaft vsupported by said bearing plates to rotate on a vertical .opens and closes the door, and a manually releasable holding dog successively engaging said crank arm for preventing the rotationv thereof under the action of said power means, l

2. The door operating mechanism as claimed in claim l, in which'rnanuallyoperable pull cords are provided for operating said holding dog to release said crank arm for rotation by the power means to thereby operate'the door.

3. In a garage door operating mechanism, the combination with a pair of horizontally swinging doors, of bearing plates supported by the ceiling beams of the garage, a shaft supported by said bearing plates for rotation on a vertical axis, a bar forming a pair of horizontal oppositely extending crank arms secured on the lower end of said shaft, a pair of connecting rods pivotally connected to one of said crank arms and to the respective doors, a drum rotatably supported by said bearing plates, a cable connected to said drum for rotatine the same by a weight, connecting means between said drum and the crank arms, whereby rotation of the drum by the weight is utilized for rotating said crank arms, a manually controlled detent dog adapted for directly engaging said crank arms successively to prevent rotation thereof, by the drum, and pull cords for operating said detent.

GEORGE T. VAN HORN. 

